Tag: easy literacy

Q-tip Painting for Kids

cintaandco

Q-tip painting is a favorite activity of ours! It is relatively mess-free and is perfect for developing fine motor skills. This activity is the best way for kids, preschoolers and toddlers to practice shape, number and letter recognition. Best of all, it’s lots of fun!

Scroll down for your FREE printable shape, letter and number printable worksheets.

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This is what you will need:

Paint (I recommend washable kid paint!)

Q-tips

Free printable templates – scroll down and you will easily find these

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Shape Recognition and Tracing for Kids

1. Prepare your shape template. You can print my FREE printable worksheet here, or draw up your own.

q-tip-shapesDownload
coloured-shapesDownload
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2. Dip the Q-tips into paint and then use them as paint brushes to trace or dot along each shape.

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Number Recognition and Tracing for Kids

1. Prepare your number template. You can print my FREE printable worksheet here, or draw up your own.

q-tip-numbersDownload

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2. Dip the Q-tips into paint and then use them as paint brushes to trace or dot along each number.

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Letter Recognition and Tracing for Kids

1. Prepare your letter template. You can print my FREE printable worksheet here, or draw up your own.

q-tip-letters-bwDownload
q-tip-letters-colourDownload
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2. Dip the Q-tips into the paint and then use them to trace or dot along each letter.

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DIY Fishing Game for Kids

cintaandco

DIY fishing games are a wonderful way for children to build and explore many developmental skills including fine motor skills, motor strength, hand eye coordination, problem solving and even some early math and literacy skills.

This DIY fishing game is the easiest to put together and lots of fun to play. And if you don’t have time to make your own game from scratch, scroll down to the end of this article for a FREE printable version.

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What you will need:

Empty cardboard box (a cereal box would be perfect)

Colored paper

Tissue paper confetti (optional)

Scissors

Marker pen

Paper clips

Magnetic wand or toy fishing rod.

!WARNING! I do not recommend using small magnets in this activity. Small magnets are not to be ingested and parents should always carefully observe their children when playing with small parts – especially magnets.

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What you will need to do:

1. Very carefully cut the front away from the cereal box with scissors. This can be a little tricky, so you may need to ask an adult to help you with this. You might also need to secure the corners of the box with sticky tape to prevent it from falling apart. Once your box is ready, line the surface of the box with blue paper so that it looks like water.

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2. Using your scissors, very carefully cut out some fish shapes. You can do this by eye or if you have a paper cutter, like a Cricut, you may like to use that! Place the fish into your box.

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3. If you would like to practice some early numeracy skills, you might like to add a number to each fish. You can collage the number with paper or simply write it out with pencil. You might also like to add some tissue paper to the box for some extra detail.

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4. Next, carefully thread a paper clip onto each of the fish. Remember that paper clips are small and an adult should always watch small children closely when using.

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5. Grab a magnetic wand or toy fishing rod that you may have at home and catch the fish!

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Here is the FREE color match printable worksheet for you:

diy-colour-matching-gameDownload

The worksheets looks like this –

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Here is the FREE color match printable worksheet for you:

diy-number-matching-gameDownload

The worksheets looks like this –

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Easy Space Scissor Skills For Kids

cintaandco

This rocket scissor skill activity is such a classic! It’s perfect for developing scissor skills, letter recognition and early literacy for preschoolers and toddlers. This activity is also super simple to set up and only requires easily accessible materials. The finished product also looks great as a piece of art to decorate your walls at home.

I first published this activity on my Instagram a couple of years ago. I actually like the original picture that I posted best. Here is the post.

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Scroll down to find some great FREE space scissor skill printable worksheets.

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This is what you will need:

Colored construction paper

Scissors

Black construction paper

Gluestick

Black marker pen

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This is what you will need to do:

1. Using your scissors, carefully cut square and triangle shapes from your construction paper.

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2. Paste the shapes onto a piece of black paper. Start by pasting a triangle shaped nose cone at the top of your page and then squares for each letter of your name.

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3. Use your scissors to cut some long strips of paper and paste these down as the rocket flames.

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4. Write the letters of your name on each square. You will need a square for each letter of your name.

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Thank you so much for reading. Scroll down for some fun FREE printable worksheets. Enjoy, Jacinta Xx

rocket-scissor-skillsDownload
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The Easiest Kids Crafts Ever!

cintaandco

I am so excited to let you all know that my very first kids craft book is available for preorder! I am so proud of this book. It is bright and colorful, is filled with super fun crafts (with step-by-step instructions) and only requires easily accessible supplies. The colorful crafts are as cute as they are playful. And, while the kids enjoy making these delightful crafts, they will also be developing their fine motor skills, critical thinking, creativity and even STEAM understanding. This book compiles 60 new projects with step-by-step photos for hours of fun. I would LOVE to know what you think about it!

Here is the blurb:

Transform Everyday Materials into Effortless, Cute Crafts!

Turn your bin of ordinary crafting supplies into a day of happy, colorful fun! Jacinta Sagona’s 60 charming crafts use simple materials you already have at home in new ways to captivate your little ones’ imaginations for hours. These craft ideas will help children of all ages tap into their creative tendencies by encouraging experimentation, spontaneity and mindfulness.

Your kids will love the helpful step-by-step photos and variety of projects, ranging from sweet animals and decorative wall hangings to handmade toys and games, and you will love how easy the projects are to set up (with minimal cleanup!). Let them put recycled cardboard and common craft paper to good use with unique crafts like a Paper Lantern Garden and a Pom-Pom Blowing Unicorn. Watch them delight in toys and painting activities like Stained-Glass Windows and a Musical Guitar. Introduce them to the practice of mindfulness with calming projects like Gratitude Mini-Piñatas, Guatemalan Worry Dolls and Yarn Hearts.

Perfect for parents, grandparents, teachers and babysitters, this book is a treasure trove of super simple ideas you can dive into anytime you are looking for an art project for the kids. You’ll love bonding with them and witnessing their budding imaginations!

And you can pre-order it here!

Amazon US

Amazon Canada

Barnes and Noble

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-easiest-kids-crafts-ever-jacinta-sagona/1137455955?ean=9781645672906

Indie Bound

https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781645672906

Book Depository

https://www.bookdepository.com/The-Easiest-Kids-Crafts-Ever-Jacinta-Sagona/9781645672906

Books A Million

https://www.booksamillion.com/p/Easiest-Kids-Crafts-Ever/Jacinta-Sagona/9781645672906?id=8127934435629

Bookshop

https://bookshop.org/books/the-easiest-kids-crafts-ever-cute-colorful-quick-prep-projects-for-busy-families/9781645672906

Amazon Australia

Booktopia

https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-easiest-kids-crafts-ever-jacinta-sagona/book/9781645672906.html

Here are reviews from some of my most favorite crafters!

“If you are looking for some fun, quirky and colorful craft inspiration, this is the book for you. Fabulous for any budding crafter!” – Maggy Woodley, @redtedart

“I love how this book allows children to learn playfully while creating projects they can enjoy for years to come! – Michelle Nash, @7daysofplay

“Who can resist a cute and colorful kids’ craft book? The best part is the super easy set-up so kids can help themselves to creating on a whim. I love that behind each cute craft there are lesson on learning and STEM.” -Agnes Hsu, @hellowonderful

“A wonderful book full of colorful ideas for all your little crafters!” -Jess Chu, @learnandbloom

“Jacinta’s easy to follow instructions and use of simple materials make it effortless to get creative with my kids. It’s a wonderful way to connect as a family while teaching practical life skills.”- Myriam Sandler, @mothercould

Winter Sensory Writing Practice Trays for Kids

cintaandco

It doesn’t snow where we live here in Melbourne. In fact, I have probably seen actual, real snow only two or three times in my entire life. I do love the idea of snow though, and how pretty it looks – I am not sure I love that it’s so cold!

In this activity, you will make a fun sensory writing tray that uses coconut as it’s sensory base. The coconut sort of resembles snow, and as well as feeling great – it smells divine! Making this activity is a true sensory learning experience, and a fun way to keep writing practice interesting.

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This is what you will need:

  • A shallow dish or container. We used this tray from Melissa and Doug. Here is an amazon affiliate link to the product:
Melissa & Doug 3781 Lace and Trace Activity Set: 5 Wooden Panels and 5 Matching Laces – Farm
  • Coconut
  • Paintbrush
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This is what you will need to do:

1. Pour a small amount of coconut into your tray or dish so that it is covered with a thin layer of coconut. I rarely use food as a crafting material – it is such a waste. But I found this in my pantry and it was close to its use by date, so we decided to use a small amount in this activity.

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2. Place your tray of coconut on a flat surface. You may like to spread out an old sheet or some paper towel under your tray to catch any coconut spills and make clean up easy. Then start writing in the tray. This time, we used a paintbrush to keep things interesting. But you can use any tool that you like – or even just your finger!

We started with letters. I typed up some words and then we used our paint brush to write each letter in the coconut snow! Once you have formed your letter, simply smooth over the coconut letter and start again!

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Don’t feel restricted to only writing letters. Try writing numbers and add some counters to practice counting, subitising and 1:1 correspondence skills. [Have you heard of the term subitising before? Subitising is the ability to recognize the number of objects in a small group without actually counting each item out].

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And you can also practice shape formation too! To do this, I simply printed out some shapes and then placed them next to the tray for my little guys to copy.

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These are the shapes that I printed. You can download your own shape file here:

shapesDownload

Once you have finished with your writing tray, you might like to store the coconut in an air tight container to use again another day. You might even like to dye your coconut with some food coloring. It is up to you how you choose to play and learn!

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Thank you so much for reading! Any thoughts or questions, please pop them in the comments section below. Jacinta Xx

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Please enjoy these fun FREE winter counting printables!

winter-countingDownload
winter-number-orderDownload
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